Bending alluminum for horseshoe shooter

[DonRotolo]

Successfully bending aluminum (so you can shoot horsehshoes? ) depends on several factors:

1. The type of aluminum: Some alloys do not bend well, others bend easily, and some just break. Find the right kind.
2. The thickness: Some alloys can be bent if thin enough, but thicker will crack. Again, find the right alloy.
3. The bend radius: tight bends are harder than broad bends (say, 24" diameter). Broad bends are easier by hand than tight bends.
4. For a precision bend, you use a roll bender. Even Harbor Freight sells a cheap one. You can even make one with some effort.

[thinker&planner]

Our first horseshoe prototype shot about 5 feet, due to it's terribly made curve. If you are going to manufacture your curve, take your time and do it right.

If you plan to use a pneumatic wheel (like we did), plan for at least a 1/2" of expansion at 5000rpm. We ended up only being able to spin ours at 1/2 speed because of this phenomenon.

We used a 3/16" piece of aluminum (I know it wasn't 6061, I believe it was 6063) and asked a local metal fabrication shop to roll it into the right shape.
The first place that we asked to do it charged us $50, and they did it wrong, even though we left them a (dimensioned) drawing. From a phone call that we had immediately after we picked it up "Well, I didn't know what a radius was..." I think that they refunded us for the "labor", but they still ate our metal (6061). The second place told us that we needed a different alloy, and they gave it to us, in addition to rolling it.

If you have access to a welder, weld strips/tabs to the back, but be careful not to warp the curve.

Good Luck!

[Jay Burnett]

We used around 1/2 in plastic for the curve instead of aluminum and used the extra thickness to mount an overhang keep the frisbee in place while contacting the wheel. we bent it using cinder blocks on each side to make the arch and heated it with a heat gun to make it keep the shape. it worked well, but unless you need the extra width for something it would be easier to do aluminum.